Day 2 - L.A. To Crestline

He Said: My apologies for the vulgarity, but I have to get this off my chest.....Boobs! Homina Homina holy moly! Ahooga. Whew. Much better. As a responsible middle aged father of three I've been holding that in all day. There's more silicon here than Silicon Valley. They should call this place Silicon Peaks. Etc.
I can't believe all the upselling that goes on these days. For the most part I'm ok with it, but man. It can grind you down. There's even three levels of parking at Legoland. Do you want to be right outside the gate, able to grab the stroller? 3 blocks? 5? There are separate lanes on the freeway if you're willing to spend 40-60 cents. You'd think the highway would be on equalizer. For the most part I don't care, and I even support it. The distinction to me is when it impacts those who don't. I can drive the regular freeway or I can take the express. I can ride a plane to Disneyland at the back with one suitcase and no food, or I can go all out. As long as there are two paths, I'm fine. It's when the priority bumps someone else that you've lost me. When you're in a line with a wait time of one hour, you're almost there, and a group of 10 people walk straight up and go on. In theory, that could go on indefinitely. You could spend all day in a lineup and never reach the front. That, I think, is crossing the line. Go ahead and build a second ride. Build it better, with leather seats and Johnny Depp himself running the controls. I still have the choice to do it or not. The uncertainty, the possible perpetual bumping...I don't like that. I think that's an insult to the people who paid $100 to get in. It's the theme park equivalent of spitting on you. I spent thousands to fly here, $500 to get in, not to mention food, etc, and you're going to let someone else cut in line? Makes me want to boycott those parks.
Anyway....we woke up, had a hot breakfast, and decided to go to Legoland. The crowds were low and the weather was nicely overcast. Overall, it was a great day. The Lego was impressive. The kids enjoyed it. Mara loved the Pirate boats where you can soak other people. Shame we didn't have time to ride again. Ryan walked the whole thing. The miniature towns are cool. The three kids in the back seat is a bit of a hassle. They're too close together and they're not used to that. But overall, it was fun. Good lunch, too. Ryan seems to be a bit scared. Moreso than I remember Mara being at his age. Makes me a bit worried about Disney, that he'll balk at Pirates and the haunted house. Then we drove to the cabin in Crestline. It was furnace inside, still is, but hopefully by tomorrow the AC will have done it's thing. It's a cosy little place. With the cars, the deck, basically the house perched off a cliff on wobbly little sticks built in the 60s...but I'm sure it's fine.
She Said: Yes, I've noticed the silicon too. Such an extreme range of people here. Maybe there is in Edmonton too and I just don't have my tourist goggles on when I'm there. Holy Moly!
LEGOLAND was alright. Once you've seen one national monument built from 140,000 bricks you've seen them all. I think the older ones were done from someone's mind, but the new ones are all planned out on computers - it seems less impressive. Just amazing how much time it takes to build them. The kids stopped noticing them after an hour and it became more about the rides and food which were good-ish. Seems a little run-down, but still mostly clean and safe. Hard to compare with the freakish standards of Disneyland. So on a scale where 0=KDays on the last day and 10=Disneyland, I'd rate it about an 8.
Off to bed where I'll try not to think about the fact that most of this house is built on stilts on the side of a cliff.